Switch-operating mechanism



N0. 6l9,|24. Patented Feb. 7, I899. r E. BEHNEY.

SWITCH OPERATING MECHANISM.

(Application filed June 2, 1898.) (N u M o d e I 2 Sheets--Shoet l.

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No. 6l9,l24. Patented Feb. 7, I899. E. BEHNEY.

SWITCH OPERATING MECHANISM.

(Application filed June 2, 1898.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EPHRAIM BEHNEY, or ELLWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA.

SWITCH-OPERATING MECHANISM.

SFECTFTCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 619,124, dated February7, 1899. Application filed June 2,1898. Serial No. 682,350. No modem Toall whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EPHRAIM BEH'NEY, residing at Ellwood, in the countyof Schuylkill and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new andusefulSwitch-Operating Mechanism, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to mechanism for shifting the switches of railways,more particularly relating to devices to be attached to electric orother railway cars for operating certain mechanisms attached to theswitch.

The object of the invention is to furnish improved means attached to andoperated by the motorman of a passenger-car for bringinginto playdevices suspended below the car, whereby as the car approaches theswitch said suspended devices will actuate mechanism attached to theswitch to shift the switchtongues and retain them in their shiftedposition until released by certain other mechanism after the wheels havepassed upon the switch.

With this object in View my invention consists in the improvedconstruction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter fullydescribed and afterward specifically pointed out in the claims.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention mostnearly appertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed todescribe its construction and operation, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a railway and switchequipped with the switchshifting mechanism which forms part of myinvention, the car and part of its operative mechanism being shown indotted lines. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of a car, illustrating thatportion of my invention which depends below the bottom of the car. Fig.3 is'a vertical longitudinal section taken on the plane indicated by thebroken line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view on the line4 4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken on the transverseplane indicated by the broken line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a top planview of that portion of my switchoperating mechanism which is belowground, the protecting-cover being removed. Fig. 7 is a verticallongitudinal sectional view on the broken line 7 7 of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 isa vertical transverse sectional view on the line 8 8 of Fig. 6. Fig. 9is a detail sectional view on the line'9 9 of Fig. 8. Fig. 10 is adetail perspective view of the latch-bar of the releasing mechanismdetached from its connected parts.

Like numerals of reference indicate the same parts wherever they occurthroughout the various figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, 20 and 21 indicate the main railsof the track, and 22 and 23 the switch-rails, switch-tongues 24 and 25being pivoted at 26 and 27 and connected together by a cross-bar 28,pivotally connected to the switch-tongues at 29 and 30. A lever 31,pivoted at 32, is connected at one end pivotally to the cross-bar 28 andis provided at its opposite end with an upright pin 33, which projectsabove the surface, passing through a curved slot 34in a protecting-cover35, the lever and other switch-shifting mechanism connected with thetrack being situated in adepression or pit formed between the rails.

A spring 36, attached to a bracket 37, (to which the before-mentionedlever 31 is pivoted,) normally bears against one side of the lever 31near its junction with the cross-rod 28, the tendency of the springbeing to force the lever and the cross-rod laterally in a direction tonormally hold the switch-tongue 24 away from the rail 20 and theswitch-tongue 25 against the rail 23, thus maintaining a main line openand the switch closed.

All of the underground switch-shifting mechanism is mounted in a frame38,-t0 which the bracket 37 is attached and in which is secured a smallframe 39, in which alatch-bolt 40 is mounted to slide'longitudinally.The latch-bolt 40 is provided with a beveled catch 41 and is normallyheld with the beveled catch 41 opposite a notch 42 in the frame 39 bymeans of a vertical spring 43, rigidly secured at its lower end by a pin44 to the side of the frame 39 and engaging near its upper end betweentwo pins 45, projecting laterally from the latch-bolt. A lever 46 ispivotally secured at 47 to the side of the frame 39 and passes upwardabove the surface through a slot 48 in the protecting-cover 35. Thislever the switch open, the catch-arm 52 passes over the latch-bar,riding over the beveled catch 41 until a hook 53 on its outer endengages over the edge of said catch, it being normally pressed downwardto assure such engagement by spring 54, secured to the under side of thetop of the frame. When the lever 46 is moved in either direction on itspivot 47, it will move the latch-bolt longitudinally and will move thecatch 41 laterally out of engagement with the hook 53 on the catch-arm52 of the lever 31, thus releasing said lever and permitting the frame36 to throw the lever into its normal position with the switch closed.

From the foregoing description it will be readily understood how theswitch-tongue may be shifted by the movement of the pin 33 and lever 46,and I will now proceed to deand 61 the dashboard.

scribe the construction of the mechanism attached to the car by means ofwhich the lever and pin are actuated while the car is passing over them.

55 indicates the floor of a car; 56 and 57, the wheels; 58 and 59, theplatform, and 60 62 indicates a vertical bar mounted to slide throughthe platform.

A triangular-shaped frame 63 is secured to the lower end of said bar,the side representing the altitude of the triangle lying inalongitudinalframe and that representing the base lying in a transverse plane, thethird side 64, which represents the hypotenuse, forming a vertical butlaterally-inclined surface in line with the pin 33. As the car movesforward this inclined plane may be brought into contact with the side ofthe pin 33 to move it laterally, the contact being cushioned by a spring65, secured in front of the inclined surface 64.

66 indicates a hand-lever pivoted at 67 above the platform of the carand is provided with a pawl 68 to engage the notches of a rack 69 toholdthe lever in any adjusted position, a lever 70 serving to release thepawl from engagement with the rack. This lever is connected to the upperend of the bar 62 by means of a screw 71,which passes through the sidesof the bar and through its slot 72 in the lever 66. When the sliding bar62 is depressed, a wheel 73, journaled in its lower end,will rest uponthe ground.

74 indicates a cross-bar or rock-shaft journaled in brackets 75 andprovided with cranked bends 76 and 77. Arod 78 is secured at one end tothe cranked bend 77 and passes through a supporting-bracket 79 on thebottom of the car-floor, the rod being secured at the opposite end ofthe car to the lower end of a lev'er'SO, pivoted at 81 above theplatform and provided with an operating-handle 82 at its upper end. Apawl 83, pivotally connected to the lever, engages the teeth of a curvedrack 84, by means of which the lever may be retained in any adjustment,a trigger-lever 85 serving to release the pawl when it is desired toremove the lever.

As before stated, the normal position of the switch is closed, it beingheld in that position by the spring 36. When a car moving along the maintrack is to be turned into the switch, the motorman operates the-lever66 downward, depressing the sliding bars 62 and the triangular frame 63until the wheel 73 rests upon the ground. The contact of the triangularframe or shoe 63 with the side of the pin 33, projecting through theslot 34 in the coveringplate 35,will move said pin laterally, carryingthe long end of the lever 31 with it, movingthe outer end of the leverin the opposite direction against the action of the spring 36 andthrough the medium of the cross-bar 38 shifting the switch-tongues 24and 25 laterally and opening the switch. The motorman will now raise thelever 66, the switch being retained in its open position by theengagement of the hook 53 of the latch-arm 52 with the beveled catch 41of the latch-bolt 40. The motorman will now lower the lever 80, whichwill cause its lower end to draw upon the rod 78, oscillating therock-shaft 74 and bringing the cranked bend 77 into a vertical position.This cranked bend being in the rear of the wheels of the car and in linewith the lever 46, projecting through the slot 48 in the covering-plate35, will come in contact with that lever after the wheels of the carhave all passed onto the switch-rail. This contact of the cranked bend77 with the lever 46 will move said lever on its pivot and slide thelatch-bolt longitudinally a sufficient distanceto cause the catch 41 topass out of en gagement with the hook 53 of the catch-arm 52, thusreleasing the lever 31, which will be immediately thrown back into itsnormal position by the spring 36, again closing the switch.

The mechanisms described for operating the switch are duplicated at theopposite ends of the car, so that the car mechanism will be equallyoperated no matter which end is approaching the switch. The switch willbe maintained normally closed, so that no action is necessary on thepart of the upon the switch, in which case the depression of the lever66 will bring the triangular shoe 63 in position to throw the switchopen, and the latch-arm 52 by engaging with the latch 41 will hold itopen and permit him to raise the shoe at once to prevent it from cominginto contact with the main rail while passing upon the switch. At anytime before the car has passed entirely onto the switch he may depressthe lever 80, which will bring the cranked bend 77 of the rock-shaft 74into position to move the lever 46 and release the -motor1nan unless hedesires to run the car latch-arm 62 to permit the switch-tongues to bereturned by the spring 36 to their normal closed position.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided easily-operatedmechanism for carrying out the objects of my invention, and while I haveillustrated and described the best means now known to me for carryingout my invention I do not wish to be understood as restricting myself tothe exact details of construction shown and described, but hold that anyslight changes or variations, such as might suggest themselves to theordinary mechanic, would properly fall within the limit and scope of myinvention.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the'United States, is-

1. The combination with the switch-tongues, of the cross-rod pivotallyconnecting them, the lever pivoted to the frame and pivotally connectedat one end to the cross-rod, the pin projecting upward from the oppositeend of the lever through a slot in the cover-plate, the spring fornormally holding the lever in position to close the switch, thecatch-arm projecting laterally from the lever and provided with a hookat its outer end, the latchbolt provided with a beveled catch to engagesaid hook, and means for moving the latchbolt longitudinally todisengage the catch from the hook and release the lever, substantiallyas described.

2. The combination with the switch-tongues, of the cross-rod pivotallyconnecting them the lever pivoted to the frame and pivotally connectedat one end to the cross-rod, the pin projecting upward from the oppositeend of the lever through a slot in the cover-plate, the spring fornormally holding the lever in position to close the switch, thecatch-arm projecting laterally from the lever, the latchbolt providedwith a beveled catch to engage said hook, the spring for maintaining theengagement of the latch-arm and catch, the slotted lever pivoted at itslower end and having its upper end projecting above the surface througha slot in the surface of the coverplate, and the pin passing through theslot in the lever and into the latch-bolt, substantially as described.

3. The combination with the car, of the vertical plate slidably mountedthrough the platform, the triangular frame or shoe attached to its lowerend, the spring-contact plate secured to said shoe, and the wheeljournaled in the shoe, substantially as described.

4. The combination with the car, of the vertical plate slidably mountedthrough the platform, the triangular frame or shoe attached to its lowerend, the slotted hand-lever piv oted above the platform, the pin passingthrough the vertical plate and the slot in the lever, the curved rack,and the pawl mechanism attached to the lever and engaging the rack,substantially as described.

5. The combination with the car, of a rockshaft pivoted below theplatform at one end and provided with a cranked bend, a lever pivotedabove the platform at the opposite end of the car and projecting belowit, a rod connecting the lower end of the lever with the cranked bend,the curved rack, and the pawl-and-lever mechanism for engaging saidrack, substantially as described.

EPHRAIM BEHNEY.

\Vitnesses:

REUBEN BARTO, A. M. ZIMMERMAN.

